And in closing ...
Today I received a breakfast invitation
that was signed in a rather unusual way - at least in my experience. A
little background first -
In 2003 Boston University Medical Center
(BUMC) was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to build
a National Biocontainment Laboratory (NBL). The lab will support the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Biodefense Research Agenda.
The NBL will be dedicated to the study of emerging and re-emerging infectious
diseases whether they occur naturally or are introduced deliberately through
acts of bioterrorism. BUMC and the NBL will be located in the heart of
Boston's densely populated South End. Needless to say there was quite an
uproar in the neighborhood when the announcement was made, and there have
been extensive efforts of education and outreach to the community.
In its ongoing efforts, BUMC is holding
a breakfast briefing on Tuesday August 31. The letter I received was an
invitation to the breakfast. I am happy to be invited and am planning to
attend, but I was quite taken aback when I got to the end of the letter
which was sent by the Director of External Affairs. Instead of closing
with the usual Sincerely, Sincerely yours, etc., the letter was closed
with God Bless.
By Googling the name of the Director
of External Affairs (Egobudike E. Ezedi, Jr.) I discovered that he has
been/is an associate minister of a Baptist Church here in Boston, and that
he has been politically active even running last year for a seat on the
Boston City Council. So while I understand that this form of closing might
be natural for an associate minister when sending letters to his flock,
I doubt that any politician would think it correct when sending a letter
to their constituency. The South End community is quite diverse and I find
the closing of God Bless to be totally inappropriate when used in a letter
to the general citizenry from a city institution such as BUMC. Frankly
I think Mr. Ezedi should've known better. What do you think?
Comment posted by Andrew Pollack08/24/2004 08:13:51 PM
Homepage: http://www.thenorth.com/apblog
Damn. I thought you were going to say your breakfast invitation came after a single shared drink during happy hour in a bar.....
As to the message itself -- I'm reminded of an interview (in character) with "Father Guido Sarducci". He was asked what it took to get a blessing from him. His answer, of course, was "well-a, firsa you gotta sneeze."
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